


Bonelight

by anirishlullaby



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, M/M, Past Kate Argent/Derek Hale, Spoilers, Warning: Kate Argent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-07
Updated: 2014-04-07
Packaged: 2018-01-18 11:19:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1426570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anirishlullaby/pseuds/anirishlullaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris and Derek try to cope and deal with the aftermath of S3B. </p><p>This might not count as moving on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bonelight

“You can’t even kill him,” Kate said menacingly. 

Chris just stared at her, wondering how it had all come down to this. His only daughter, the most treasured thing in his world, was gone – and somehow, out of nowhere, his fallen sister had simply reappeared. There she was, leering at him, as if nothing had changed.

“You’re a coward,” she spit out, “the Argent that forgot how to shoot.” 

He glared at her silently, afraid of what he might say. 

The words stuck in the back of his throat like shards of glass. 

The last thing he needed right now was another screaming match with his sister. The fact that his sister was even standing there in front of him right now, pale and ghastly but very much, what was the word? Alive. It wasn’t something he could deal with. 

Not now, and probably not ever. 

For that reason, Chris somehow managed to stand. His legs threatened to buckle underneath him as he stepped backwards. 

Away from her, and away from this madness. 

There was nothing left for him here. Nothing in this empty house that he needed, only the shadow of a life that he had lost too recently – and the haunting mirage of his sister. 

Chris took another step backwards, staring into Kate’s cold eyes, and then he turned around – leaving the apartment without pause. 

***

Derek Hale took his time opening the door to his barren pad. 

He knew who waited behind it, and could sense all of the emotions that flowed through Chris Argents’ veins with no bound. They were fierce and rigid, leaving no room for open mindedness or even the most basic brainstorming. 

Derek could already guess why Chris was there, and part of him hoped that he might be wrong. All of his instincts told him exactly the opposite though, and so Derek purposefully prolonged the greeting. 

But oddly enough, after an oddly apprehensive motion – the door still opened. 

And there was Chris, looking even worse off than the last time Derek had seen him.

“Derek,” the hunter spoke raggedly. 

Then there was silence, and Derek stepped aside slowly – offering up the whole of his apartment to the broken man before him. The man whose whole life had previously been dedicated to hunting Derek down. A man who was named Argent, and still somehow allowed to be within a mile of this Hale’s heart. 

They made an awkward pair, to be sure; but there it was. 

Chris made it to the middle of the room before stopping again, and Derek was half afraid that the man might pass out entirely. 

Something was definitely wrong. 

“What happened?” Derek asked finally. 

He knew that the former hunter would never be the one to speak first, and while others might be bothered by such rituals – Derek had never really seemed to mind. 

“Derek” Chris repeated. 

Slowly, calmly, Derek walked over to the other man and stood quietly – looking into the clearest yet possibly also the most shattered eyes he’d ever seen. 

“What happened?” He asked again. 

Chris remained unresponsive, so Derek placed his own hands gently on the other man’s shoulders, and was almost surprised to see black veins pop up on his forearms. 

“You’re hurt.” 

It wasn’t a question, but Chris shrugged Derek’s hands off anyway. The ex-hunter had never been fond of receiving supernatural healing; understandably. 

“Derek, my sister…” His words trailed off as if Chris had no real intention of finishing them. 

“Is alive,” Derek said regretfully. 

Chris looked up, but there was no surprise in the way he looked Derek over right then. 

“You knew?” It was spoken as formality, more-so than any real question. 

“She was here,” Derek croaked. 

The memories were still blurry and nightmarish, as if they’d merely happened in a dream – not in real life. But they were there, and in his ‘dream’, Stiles Stilinski had shown him a hand with five fingers. “Five fingers mean that it’s not real” Stiles had said then. 

That conversation hadn’t been real. 

But Kate certainly had been. 

“What?” Suddenly Chris was more alert, but it was the kind of alert that said he might have just been stabbed in the back – not the kind that simply indicated he was awake. 

Derek backed off slightly. 

But he wasn’t afraid – of course he wasn’t. 

You’re not my enemy anymore, Derek. 

Those words still rang true. And with Kate’s reappearance, they became certain. 

Clear alertness switched suddenly over to concern. Somewhere in this halting transaction, the two men had changed roles so that Derek was now the one being inspected for any signs of wrongdoing or injuries. 

Chris found none. 

Chris also couldn’t have sensed the inner turmoil that wracked through Derek’s vitals. 

“Fuck,” Chris muttered. 

Derek nodded silently in agreement, and the two headed over to the apartment’s one very lopsided and torn up couch. 

It was better than shaken limbs. 

***

“She wants me to kill you,” Chris told Derek calmly. 

Derek wasn’t surprised. 

“Makes sense,” he responded. “Did she say why?”

“Of course not,” there was a slight pause and then – “it’s Kate Argent.” 

“She never was one for explanations,” Derek agreed. 

***

The night was cold, and a deep, ominous shade of blue as Derek Hale walked quietly onto the land of the dead. Chris had rejected the invitation to join him on this particular outing, and Derek saw no signs of weakness in that decision. 

None of them knew exactly where Kate had fled to, or when she’d be back – but they knew for sure now that she was there; ready to pounce if need be. 

Chris had all but stopped eating. 

Derek was fueled by anger and the unpleasant desire for revenge. It was a revenge that made him nauseous to think about, and one that he didn’t necessarily need right away. One day though, and perhaps one day soon – it would happen. 

“If you don’t want me to, I won’t” Derek had lied openly to Chris. 

“It’s your torch to bear,” Chris had answered sullenly. “I don’t need or want it, not anymore.” The words spoke memories of Allison, and Derek had touched the man’s cheek with rough hands – knowing that actual tears might never come. Words spoke volumes about such things though, and Derek felt it. He felt it all the time. 

“Kate is not an Argent” Derek had promised -- “you are.” 

Chris still didn’t believe it. 

Chris never wanted to hear the name Argent again. 

“Allison was,” Derek muttered to himself, staring bleakly down at Kate’s empty grave. “Allison was an Argent, Kate – what were you?” 

***

“Not A Argent,” said a foreign, shadowy voice in the great distance.

“THE Argent,” it whispered fondly. And then, in an instant, it was gone. 

*** 

Derek heard the voice as if it came from the grave itself, but did not go looking. The night carried on, and his footsteps led the werewolf back to a man that was no longer his hunter.

*** 

“It has everything to do with time,” Deaton had told them.

“Time and nothing else.” 

***

So it was that Beacon Hills rested in limbo, waiting for a wave of supernatural venom that was sure to wash upon them. And until it did, they slept.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the "All Troped Out" challenge at the Beacon Hills LJ landcomm. It includes the following tropes: sliding scale of villain threat, mate or die, five rounds rapid, and word puree title (some are incorporated more than others).


End file.
